Trial and a LOT of Error
by demonkid446
Summary: See what happens when a "normal" girl gets swept up in the fate of the universe. Jr Oc
1. Girl named Artemis

This starts out pre-xenosaga 3 on the planet Shion goes to to meet with Allen. I'm sorry but I completely forget which Miltia it was.

* * *

Artemis awoke to her alarm clock ringing loudly. She cursed and pressed the snooze button, looking at how the clock read 5:15 am. She looked down incredulously at the clock, thinking why on miltia she decided to set it to ring so early. Her gaze shifted slowly down to her nightstand, on it a job application filled out in pen. She stared at it for a moment, her blood-red eyes narrowing slightly before she remembered instantly exactly why she set it to ring so early.

"Oh shit!" she audibly exclaimed, jumping out of her bed. She ran into her bathroom, flicking on the dim light. She pulled her chin-length black hair, which was cut in very subtle layers, out of it's messy ponytail. She parted it the way she always did, in such a way that her right eye was partially covered, before pulling it back into a neater, tighter ponytail. Upon realizing what she did and the futility of it, she groaned loudly before yanking the ponytail out and running into her shower. 'Why did I do that?' she thought angrily, turning the water on and hissing as ice cold water pelted her skin. 'What was the point of parting my hair just to put into another pony?...Especially considering the not showering part!....Just what the hell is sticking to my skin?' she thought, looking down. She gasped and immediately peeled off her night gown. She cursed loudly and washed, shampooed, and conditioned in that order. She dried off and ran back into her room, not bothering to dry her hair, but she instead pulled it back into another tight ponytail. She ransacked her closet for something to wear to her interview. Now mind you, she had a plentiful of clothes at her disposal, just none which she would describe as appropriate for a job interview, and she didn't want to wear any of traditional clothing either. In the end, she chose a pair of tight fitting black jeans and a simple v-neck red sweater that was long sleeved and reached down mid-thigh. She tied her black sash around her waist and sprinted out the door after throwing on her black leather jacket and some knee high boots with 3 inch wedges on the bottom. She sprinted all the way to the space port and when she arrived she got on the elevator that went up to where the durandal was docked. As the door closed, she sat on the couch. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back. Once the elevator was half-way up to the docks, realization dawned on her. She looked down at her hands, which were devoid of a certain paper. She had left her application form at home, and somewhere along her rushing to get ready, she neglected to put on any underwear at all. "oh shit!" she yelled, earning a scowl from a nearby woman who covered her child's ears. Artemis scowled back and looked at the time.'6:10.. I don't have time to go back and get it…oh well' she thought, laying back onto the couch 'winging it is much better then blowing 'em off I suppose..' she thought, as the elevator continued to ascend, she sincerely hoped she was right.

Artemis Focalor, she was 18 and today was the day she had her interview for a job in the Kukai foundation. She was to meet them at 6:30 am to conduct an interview. She had never been one to actually take getting a job seriuosly, but her original job was not working out to well for her. As the elevator came to a halt and she stepped out, she brushed the "hethen" comment the mother on the elevator made as she edged her child out of the elevator, off her shoulder. She drew in a deep breath and walked into the docked durandal, and wasted anbother 10 minutes seaching for the bridge because of her rather boyish trait of not wanting to ask for directions.

..........

Artemis dashed through the hallways of the durandal, in the direction she finally determined to be the way to the bridge. As she was running through the halls, she noticed a red-haired boy with blue eyes walking towards her. Now if she wasn't as annoyed as she was, she probably wouldn't have tackled him out of her way shouting "Move Kid!". Little did she know, the 'kid' she had tackled had in fact been Gaignun Kukai Jr. himself. She ignored his screaming as she turned the corner, but couldn't help but wonder where a kid learned how to use such fowl language. She arrived on the bridge with no second to spare, however it took all her control to stop herself from ramming straight into Gaignun Kukai. He merely looked down at her with a raised eyebrow. She then noticed that she was staring and cleared her throat and immediately began trying to explain why she was almost late and why she didn't have her application with her. Gaignun gave a small chuckle and held a hand up to silence her.

"Don't worry about it." he started with a small smile. "I won't be conducting your interview, our little master will be, and he doesn't even know we have application forms." hearing this caused Artemis to calm slightly.

"Oh" she said simply, before asking "Who's this little master?"

"I am" a youthful males voice said from behind her. Artemis turned with a smile and said

"Hi I'm Art- Oh shit...." her face fell as she gazed at the boy she shoved out of her way earlier. He was looking up at her with a mischievous smile

"Hey 'Art'. I'm gonna have fun with this.." he said to her in a voice that made her want to tremble.

...........

Gaignun Kukai Jr. was in a bad mood. He had refused to hire 5 people that morning and then he was bowl over by some girl who was sprinting through the hallways. But hi bad mood was clearing as he found that the girl was in fact his last interview and he could run it how ever he wanted. She sat in front of him, her eyes nervously looking down at the ground. The first thing he noticed since they were in here was her eye color. It was a slightly creepy shade of red, which made him doubt she was human, but if she was a robot, she wouldn't make it through the doors of the durandal unless she was known of or accompanied by someone. He also noticed that she wasn't wearing underwear. It wasn't an ability he was pruod of, for the most part, but his 'experiences' led him to be able to tell things like that.

"So...." he started, this seemed to get the girl's attention, as she slowly looked back up to him. "You applied for all around technician...right?" he recieved a nod in return. "Well....what does it entail. Tell me." he demanded, which caught Artemis off guard.

She stuttered for a moment before answering. "It ensues the repairs and checking of all technology used on the Durandal, and making sure they're up to stat"

Jr. nodded and stood up. "Do you think you can handle it?" he asked.

"Yes." she answered.

Although this answer didn't satisfy Jr. "You sure?"

"Yes." she answered in the same way.

"Really really sure?" he tried with a smirk.

"Yes." came the slightly anooyed answer.

"Ultra super, mega super, really really REALLY sure?" he asked in a singsong voice. It worked.

"YES! I'M SURE!DAMMIT!" she shouted standing up, before covering her mouth quickly and sitting back down.

Jr. smiled at this. "You're hired." he said simply.

"I'm sorry but you kept asking and- What?"

"You are hired." he repeated.

"Umm....ok?"

"You start tomorrow, 8am sharp, and pack your bags, we're leaving on a mission and we need a technician." he rhymed, walking out of the room. Artemis just stared at the door before standing up and walking out.

"What the hell just happened?" she asked herself as she walked out of the Durandal, back to the space elevator and sat down on the couch.

.........

Artemis focused as she decided what to pack for her trip. She decided just to throw in a good portion of the things in her closet, clothes, straightening rod, shoes, and she made sure not to forget underwear. She stood after being satisfied with her packing and brushed some dust of her black kimono pants. She had changed into a male kimono when she got back to her house, it's top robes were white and it's kimono pants where black. She didn't know why she didn't like wearing Female kimonos, she just didn't. She walked and sat out on her porch, looking up at the setting sun.(I imagine her house to be just Like Jin's, without the books). She then heard the ring of the bell she put in the front of the house. She got up and walked around from the back, seeing a man That looked to be in his thirties waiting patiently. Artemis was a blacksmith by trade, and repaired and made many types of weapons.

"Hello." she said, approaching the man who was looking at the house. He turned to her with a smile.

"Hello." he replied. "I'm Jin. May I ask if you have any suitable swords for me?"

Artemis, despite being slightly stunned by this random customer replied "I have a lot of swords. Come in." leading him into her house, she walked into a room with many different types of weapons. Jin looked through the room in awe.

"You have a pletiful of weapons in here..And they're all in good shape, clean, no dust. Do you tend to these every day?"

"Yes" Artemis replied, walking over to a closet "As an 18 year old, you'd think I have better things to do other than sit at home all day and tend to weapons. I do go out with friends sometimes..but I have much more time to do this. It calms me down." she opened the closet door and pulled out several sheathed swords.

Jin, strayed from his examination of the bows and walked over and looked at the swords laying on the ground. He picked up a simple one, unsheathing it and testing how it felt. "This one..what do you call it?"

"Bo Yan. I found that just lying around and repaired it up a bit." Artemis replied.

"You've done an excellent job. You can't find swords like this in the U.M.N shops now a days." Jin said, sheathing the sword. "How much will it cost?" he asked.

"Just take it. No cost." Artemis said. Upon seeing him about to protest she continued "Not many people even use swords anymore. And on the off chance they do, they get them from a U.M.N shop. I like the moments when someone like you comes here and wants some of the old style blades. Besides, its been so long.. I haven't established a price on anything anymore."

Jin nodded and said "Thank you for your kindness. I hope we have the chance to meet again."

"Likewise." Artemis replied as she watched him walk away from her house. Only then did she notice it was dark out. "May as well get to sleep for tomorrow." she said, slipping out of her kimono and laying down in her bed, she fell asleep almost instantly.

* * *

This concludes the first chapter.


	2. Anima awakening

Artemis awoke at 6:30 that morning. She showered and decided when she put her hair in a ponytail to allow a few starnds to fall and very slightly cover her right eye. She looked in the mirror and decided her pale skin was getting to pale. '_Note to self...tan..'_ she thought. She then ate an apple quickly before putting on the kukai foundation uniform she recieved at the space port. Throwing her bag over her shoulders, she walked into the weapons room. "Should i take one?" she said scanning the weapons. Her eyes landed on a metal long cylinder case. '_This one..._' she thought to herself, picking it up by it's strap and strapping it around her waist. She then walked out of her house and put the lock on it, before running to the space port.

...........

She arrived on the Durandal at 7:45 so she had time before they left to explore the ship, her room was simple and like all the other rooms, so she decided to go to the bridge and see if she had an assignment.

"Right on time." Jr said when Artemis walked onto the bridge. Artemis looked around and was amazed at the technology located on it. " This is Artemis. Our new tech person." he said, gesturing to her.

"Hello." A pink haired girl with yellow eyes said, walking up to Artemis and holding out her hand.

Artemis instantly new who she was. "Hello, you're Momo correct?" she replied.

"Y-yes. How did you know?"

"You're kinda famous hon." Artemis replied with a small laugh. Momo blushed and looked away. Artemis looked at the Large man that stood next to Jr. He had blonde hair. He also wore no expression and had robotic parts attached to him , which told her he wasn't fully human.

"Ziggurot 8" he said simply.

"Ziggy!" Momo corrected.

The name 'Ziggy' earned a small laugh from Artemis. She nodded to him and looked towards the white-haired boy with dark skin and mysterious eyes. Something told her he wasn't human either, but she didn't dwell on it.

"I'm chaos. pleased to meet you." he said, offering her a hand to shake, which she took.

Artemis the turned and saw a familiar face. "You." she said, looking at Jin.

"Well, fate has been kind enough as to grant my wish." Jin said looking down at Artemis.

"So you're coming to?" Artemis asked. Jin nodded and she smile.

"I'm confused." Jr said.

"We were aquainted yesterday..Nothing to think about too much Jr." Jin said simply, walking to the elevator and leaving the bridge, Momo and Ziggy following the suit.

"Well, now for you first assignment." Jr. started in s sinister tone. Artemis merely gulped.

* * *

Artemis sighed as she fell back onto the cabin bed. In the last week or so, Jr. had her running around doing numerous jobs, one after another, since they departed, she had do over 50 jobs already. Now she was on the elsa, a ship they Transferred to while the Durandal stayed back aways just in case it was needed. Apparently there was some weird signature in the scans and the was a strange land mass out in space that just appeared. They were going to investigate it. She looked around the women's cabin, which she shared with Momo. She had to get some sleep, in the time she was here, she didn't even get the chance to meet the elsa crew. She had saw them ocassionally walking around, but she never even spoke to them. .She was just about to fall asleep when_. beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep_.

"SHIT!" she screamed, snatching her communicator off her nightstand and opening it. "What!?" she shouted.

Jr. just laughed and said "Hey, we're gonna take the E.S. crafts out soon, can you do maintnence on Ziggy? You can? Thanks bye!" and then hung up.

Artemis just held the communicator before throwing it at the wall. breaking it and nearly htting one of the robots that worked on the ship. She payed it no mind as it said something to her as she walked out of the cabin, drawing her back into a messy ponytail. Her kimono flowed as she stormed down the hall to the elevator. It was much like her black and white set, execpt the top robes and the pants were both black. Her normal black sash was tied around her waist and strapped over it was her cylinder case. She growled on the elevator. "I'm gonna Kill him.."

............

Ziggy awoke in his maintnence chair to see Artemis standing over him. She looked tired and annoyed. He cleared his throat to let her know he was awake and she merely grunted in return, which meant she noticed him wake up when he did. "I'm sorry. Miss Artemis-"

"Artemis. Just Artemis." she corrected.

"-Artemis..I don't entirely like getting maintnence from-"

"Young women" she finished for him. Ziggy seemed to mistake just how irritated the girl was, he soon found out. "Look. Jr. says I can't leave this room until your maintnence is done. So close your eyes, think of something else, pretend I'm not a woman! But i'm almost done and I am _not_ and I repeat **_not_** gonna stop so the 'little master' can make me start over again!"

Ziggy decided to choose his words carefully, as not to aggravate her more. "You seem...stressed.."

"Yeah, well working for Jr has that affect on me. I'm finished, see how you feel." she said. Ziggy stood up and tried all of his limbs.

"I feel...lighter, like I can move faster...how did you do that?"

"Let's just say I'm good at what I do." she said simply, turning and walking out of the room.

............

Artemis scanned the E.S.s slowly and in detail. Jr was getting impatient.

"Hurry up already!" he groaned. Artemis merely ignored him.

"Jr, I think she's doing the best she can. She appears to be exhausted." Momo said, giving Artemis a worried glance. Artemis smiled back and stood up, walking over to them.

"I have good news and bad news." Artemis said picking at the hems of her large white t-shirt, which she wore with a pair of faded blue jeans.

"Well?" Jr asked impatiently.

"The good news is that all of them can run, and their combat abilities are fine."

"And the bad news?" Jin asked.

"Funny you're the one who asked. Jin. It's the Rueben I'm worried about" she said, running her hand through the strands of hair that came out of her ponytail. "It's navigation system is impaired"

"Meaning?" Jin asked her, looking up at the Reuben.

"Basically it means you can't control it alone. You need a person to handle the overall stability of it or the results won't be good." she stated and upon seeing Jr open his mouth she said "He can't go out there. I won't let him."

"Isn't there anything you can do?" Momo asked.

"I can fix it with a program, but it's gonna take much longer than the time we have until you guys go out there."

"Do something!" Jr shouted.

"What am I supposed to do!? I'm not a miracle worker, unless you want me to go out with him and help him which Is like, virtually impossible." Artemis shouted back.

"Why is it impossible?" Jr asked all of a sudden. Artemis' eyes widened at this comment.

"OH NO! I am not gonna go out there!" she shouted.

"What if I order you to for the good of the mission?" Jr. tried.

"W-what!? Guys? Are you gonna let him him make me go out there!?" Artemis shouted, looking at the 4 behind Jr.

"Jr. that might not be the best choice." chaos said. "She's a civilian, a skilled one yes. But she most likely doesn't have combat experience. Especially E.S combat."

"Yeah! Wait what? how pathetic do ya take me for!?" Artemis asked in an aggravated tone. chaos shot her an apologetic look.

"Yeah! she'll do fine." Jr said. "You're going and that's final, now go get ready!" he said in a overly cheerful tone. He then turned and left the E.S. hangar, Momo, chaos, and Ziggy following. Artemis just sat on the ground and buried her face in her hands.

"I have faith that you can do it." Jin said.

"It's not that I can't. It's just...." Artemis started but stopped. "Nevermind. I'll go right out there and show Jr up so bad, he'll never want me in an E.S. again."

"Ahaha! That's the spirit!" Jin said, walking out of the E.S. hangar.

Once Artemis was sure no one could hear she said "Fenrir....forgive me but it looks like I'm going in another E.S."

..................

Artemis looked nervously at her reflection in the mirror. She wore her hair in a tight ponytail, letting no strands out this time. She wore a pair of black cargo pants that reached midway down her calf and a black tank top, and black and white sneakers. She let out a shaky sigh, before turning to look at Momo, who had just walked in.

"Don't worry, the navigator doesn't do anything you can't do, You'll be fine, you definitely have the endurance and spirit of an E.S. pilot!" she said reasurring.

Artemis smiled at Momo and nodded before saying "Let's go then!" and strapping her cylinder case around her waist. She followed Momo out and down to the E.S hangar. Upon arriving, she saw that they were the last ones. Momo and Ziggy Transferred into their E.S first, before chaos went into the Asher and Jin into the Reuben. Artemis was just about transfer before she heard Jr. slyly say

"Decided to wear a bra this time, eh?" before he snickered and tranferred into the Asher. Artemis just stared and then looked down at the outline of her bra through her tight tank top. She felt the heat raise up into her cheeks before she transferred into Reuben.

"Are you alright?" she heard Jin ask from the seat above her.

Artemis' red eyes glared towards the direction of E.S Asher before she said "Just fine." offhandly.

..........

'_So far, so good...'_ Artemis thought nervously, as Jr. finished his conversation with Gaignun.

"This thing's pretty big!" Jr said, reffering to the landmass they were over. Artemis looked at it curiously.

"It's 70 kilometers in diameter. Unable to determine mass due to abnormal gravitational fields." said a voice belonging to someone she did not know.

"You sure Hammer?" Jr asked.

'_Hammer?..The hell kinda name is that?'_ Artemis thought.

"Yup!" Hammer replied.

"Still, it's strange something this size could cause such a gravitational disturbance." said another voice Artemis didn't know.

Artemis took a close look at the charts in front of her. "Gravity roughly 1g around it, but that seems kinda weird. Let's get a closer look." she flew closer to the object and Jin was the first to speak.

"What is this?" he asked dumbfounded.

"Whoa! it looks like a large portion of land from somewhere!" Jr. said.

"Maybe even the remains of a destructed planet." Ziggy suggested.

"No" Artemis said. "it's too uniform for that. It looks like it's been artificially cut from it's original landmass."

"Unknown craft approaching!" Momo shouted.

"What!?" Jr. shouted, moving Asher to avoid being hit with a laser. Artemis looked at the odd ships and the machines that were currently firing at them.

"Ormus?" she whispered loud enough for only her to hear.

"Artemis!" Jin exclaimed, causing her to look up at his face. "I'm sorry! but it looks like we'll have to enter combat! can you handle it?" he asked her with a concerned look on his face.

Artemis just grinned and shouted back "Leave the movement and missiles to me! you just focus on taking 'em out!" before gripping the controls tightly, and moving the Reuben in for battle.

..........

'_just one more...'_ Artemis thought as she moved the Reuben in position for it to slice the opposing machine up with it's swords.

"Yeah! way to go Artemis and Jin!" Jr. yelled." How's the Elsa?" he asked Momo.

"It's safe and collecting data." she responded.

"Good, Momo and Jin, you guard the Elsa!" Jr. said calmly.

"Roger!" Jin and Momo said simultaneously. Artemis turned the movement controls back over to Jin, and laid back in her seat.

"Are you alright?" Jin asked.

"Just fine" she sighed out. she lied, she began to notice that the more she operated the Reuben the more she felt weak and brittle. She had an agonizing headache at the moment.

Jin eyed her with concern but figured she'd insist the same thing if he asked again, so he followed the Zebulun closely.

............

"Jr! enemy reinforcements!" chaos shouted.

"Damn, theses guys just don't when to give up!" came the irritated response.

"It's only one and it's after the Elsa!" chaos shouted.

"you're in the way!" a familiar voice shouted, as it brushed past the Zebulun, shoving it violently towards the Reuben.

Jin and Artemis reacted quickly and stopped the Zebulun before it crashed into them.

chaos watched as the black E.S moved out of the way of the Asher's fire, and it engaged the Reuben in combat.

"Uzuki!" an all-to-familiar voice shouted.

"I thought that was you colonel." Jin started calmly "This place must hold great significance if you came all this way to join us."

"It matters not! I'll make this sacred area graves for you and your E.S.s!" Margulis shouted, his E.S Levi, throwing missile-like projectiles that struck all three E.S.s.

........

Artemis grunted, the impact from Margulis' attack further worsening her headache.

"Artemis!" Jin exclaimed, looking down at her.

Artemis merely ignored his worry and said "Just get close to him and distract him with your attack, I'll fire the missiles and then they'll stun him long enough for Jr. and Momo to attack too." rigidly. Momo seemed to notice this.

"Are you alright? Do you need to withdraw?" she asked, worry evident in her voice.

"I'm fine! Just go! We'll get no where with this!" Artemis responded. Jin reluctantly complied, the Reuben dashing towards Levi and swinging it's swords, which Levi blocked with ease.

"Well. well? a head on attack? Your skills are beginning to waver Uzuki." Margulis taunted.

"Yeah right!" Artemis said, shooting the missiles out at full power, which flew around before crashing into the Levi's back in small explosions. The Levi lurched forward, it's defense failing it ad Jin repeated his attack, successful this time. Zebulun and Asher took this chance to attack as well.

"Did we get 'im?" Jr. asked. His question didn't take long to be answered when the Levi regained control and blasted the Asher away. Artemis tried and failed to move the Reuben before the Levi grabbed it and shoved violently towards, the Zebulun, and with the Zebulun's lack of physical strength, the impact was much more damaging than when the Zebulun was shoved towards the Reuben.

Artemis' body lurched dangerously as the Reuben slammed into the Zebulun, causing a few strands of hair to fall down the sides of her face and slightly over her right eye. She felt, a sharp pain in her heard, and nearly passed out, she opened her eyes to see the Levi charging the Reuben with it's sword in hand. She closed her eyes and braced herself for the impact that was sure to come, but in never came. She hesitantly opened one eye and then the other and found that the E.S Levi was no longer in front of her, plus she wasn't in the Reuben anymore, she was alone, floating there in empty space. She looked to her right and saw nothing, she looked to her left and saw Jin, which slightly stunned her. She tried calling his name, but she coudn;t find words, she was too distracted by the brilliant light shining in front of her. Jin's eyes were fixated on it she notice, she then analyzed it closer and realized something was was emitting the light. '_the vessel of anima...._' she thought to herself, looking at the breathtaking light as it grew larger, and soon engulfed her and Jin. she reopened her once again closed eyes and looked at the sight before her. She stood with Jin on a plain field, that seemed to go on forever, the sky was white and the area was illuminated in that same beautiful light, and she didn't feel on the verge of collapse anymore. If anything, she felt a rush of incredible strength flow through her as she took in the magnificent sight. She looked over at Jin, and assumed by the look on his face that he felt the same. His gaze was fixed on something, so she followed his eyes and looked at that sword plunged in the ground in the middle of the field. She stepped towards, feeling calmer, but stronger with each step, Jin right beside her. She reached out and gripped the handle of the large sword, as did Jin. She closed her eyes and just like that, she was back in The Reuben and Margulis was about to destroy them. she noticed her body coated in the light from her vision, and Jin as well.

"What is this?" Jin asked quietly.

"The vessel of anima, is giving us it's power..." Artemis said, talking to herself more than Jin.

"I see....so this is what it feels like....Artemis, let's end this." Jin said, knowing oddly what to do.

"Right." Artemis said, releasing the controls and holding her hands out to hold a figurative sword, as did Jin. Th Reuben glowed with the light, and the Levi was blown away from it. Much like it's two pilots, the Reuben held it's arms out, the only difference being, the huge sword that appeared in it's hands was very real, and glowed with the same light. Artemis and Jin, held their figurative swords in a position similar to holding a bat, just lower, the Reuben mimicked this and all at once, Artemis, Jin and the Reuben swung, their swords, the Reuben's sword cutting through the Levi's shield, damaging it's frame greatly.

Jin and Artemis simultaneously shouted "iron blade!"

"whoa!" Jr. shouted, as the light faded from Reuben. This was all Artemis heard before the feeling of collapsing came back to her, and this time, it did.

* * *

The whole field of light thing was just my take on how it must feel to use one of those special anima attacks, keep in mind, i don't own Xenosaga.


	3. Trust issues and Street brawl

**Disclaimer: **I figure i should do these more often. I own nothing except for Artemis

* * *

Artemis awoke in her room. She groaned as she sat up and looked around her surroundings. Noticing that there was an absence of three more beds in the room. She sat up and saw she was in the Durandal. '_When did i get get here?'_she thought as she got out of the bed and walked towards the door. The door slid open, revealing a worried Momo. ".....Momo?" Artemis asked.

"Oh, Artemis! you're finnally awake!" Momo said releived. "You were unconscious for so long, we were getting worried."

"We.....?" Artemis asked, before the memory of the E.S fight came back to her. "Oh! hey Momo what happened?"

"You passed out. Jin says it could have been from exhaustion but chaos wasn't so sure..Anyway, you were like that for a whole week! Jr was really feeling guilty about making you go out there." Artemis lowered her head in thought and mentally cursed herself. "Are you okay?" Momo asked her.

"Oh, I'm fine." Artemis lied. "So were you coming down to check on me?"

Momo had sensed Artemis was troubled by something, but answered her anyway. "Yeah! now that you're okay you can go talk to everybody! I'm sure they'll be relieved to know you're up and walking."

Artemis nodded with a smile. "Right! I'll do that. Give me a sec to change OK?" Momo agreed and walked down the hall. When the door closed Artemis walked over and punched the wall, denting. "Dammit! I sub came to weakness. I knew there'd be complications if I went in that thing, but I wasn't supposed to faint!" she shouted, before whispering "and now I'm sure chaos suspects something if he didn't buy the exhaustion thing." and punching again, this time, a mirror. She looked down at the cuts she got from doing that, and felt quite aggravated as they glowed slightly and healed on the spot. "This could get more complicated than necessary..I just wanted to have a normal job, normal life..Is that to much to ask?"

* * *

Jr. paced back and forth, waiting for Momo to return.

"Jr, calm down, you're stressing yourself" chaos said.

"chaos! I can't calm down! What if she dies? I'm the one who made her go! She didn't want to and I-"

"Jr. She'll be fine, it's probably just a bad reaction to the vessel of anima." chaos reassured. Although he was curious, no slash that, _suspicious_ as to what happened. He didn't know why, it wasn't common behavior for him. But something about Artemis just unnerved him. "Jr, do you know anything about her?" he asked.

Jr stopped pacing and turned to chaos. "No, I just asked her one question and hired her."

"Don't you find it...strange....what happened out there?" chaos suggested.

"How so?" Jr responded.

"I mean, she is perfectly capable of linking with a vessel of Anima, I can tell, but something went wrong out there, and it shouldn't have." chaos answered, speaking his suspicions out loud.

"What do you mean?"

"There are two possibilities on what could have happened. One, she's not human." chaos started.

"Impossible, if she wasn't human we would have known." Jr reassured.

"Two, she's already in sync with a different vessel." chaos finished. To tell the truth, chaos wasn't even all that sure she was human either, Ziggy could sync with Anima because he was half human. Artemis though, there was nothing that proved she wasn't human, but there were things he felt that made him doubt she was.

"But all the E.S.s and vessels that are functional have been occupied. There's no record of another one being unearthed...so she couldn't be in sync with a different one...cause there is no other one for her to be in sync with. Are you sure it's not exhaustion like Jin said?" Jr. said after a pause of thought.

"If it were just exhaustion she wouldn't have looked like she did." chaos responded, replaying the scene in his head.

* * *

_"Artemis! are you alright?" Jin asked in a panic after the Elsa fell towards the landmass and disappeared._

_"Jin? What's wrong?" Jr asked, transmitting an image. "W-whoa? hey are you ok?" he asked after looking at Artemis. Chaos then transmitted an image and saw the state she was in. Her eyes were still open, but the were completely glazed over, her body sat limp in the seat, and her skin was grimly pale._

_"Guys...something has gone wrong here! Let's get back to the Durandal and get her out the E.S. quick!" chaos shouted._

* * *

"I guess you're right.....but...." Jr trailed off, looking at the side wide eyed. Chaos followed his gaze and saw the exact person they had just been talking about. "Hey! you're alright!" Jr. said, walking over to her, faking nonchalant.

"Yeah! it'll take a lot more than an E.S to do me in!" Artemis replied. Chaos looked at her curiously, her ever so slightly tan skin was back to normal, the pupils in her eyes were visible now. She looked out of the corner of her eye, seeing the look chaos gave her, but decided not to mention it. "So anyway! Let's get this one thing clear." she said, glaring at jr, who gulped at the look in her eyes. "I am never, somebody repeat never!"

"Never?" Momo said.

"Hallelujah! NEVER! Going to go in that E.S again. Anyway, The navigation problem should be fixed by now." Artemis exclaimed, giving jr. an i-dare-you-to-say-otherwise look.

"Um...agreed?" Jr. said, suddenly fearing for his life.

"Excellent." Artemis, her mood doing a complete 180. "Now I'll just go back to my room in peace while you figure out what to do about your Elsa." she said, walking off to her room.

"OK?" Jr. said in a dumbfounded tone. "What just happened?" he asked chaos, who merely shrugged, his attention focusing on Artemis. Artemis stopped mid-step and turned to look at chaos.

"Chaos, walk with me and let's get acquainted." she said, feigning cheer. Though chaos wanted nothing more than to refuse contact with her until he was sure of her, he doubted it was an option by her forced smile.

"Alright"

* * *

Artemis lead chaos to the park, looking at the endless void that is space. "I understand your concerns." she started, catching chaos off guard. "But must you make it so......well....._obvious._..that you don't trust me." she said to him.

Chaos was at a loss for words, the girl had obviously noticed the looks she received from him, he just didn't expect her to be so perceptive. "Artemis-"

"If it's any easing to you, I don't entirely trust you either." Artemis interupted. Chaos looked at her square in the face, no sign of her not being serious was present. "If anything, I know you're not who you want us to believe."

Chaos just looked at her before, walking away. Artemis didn't bother to wattch him leave, she instead just said aloud "that should keep him off my ass for a while"

* * *

Artemis walked calmly out of the Durandal, they had returned to miltia to enlist the help of Vector in finding the elsa, Or specifically, a former employee of Vector by the name of Shion Uzuki. When she asked Jin about the woman, he confirmed that she was in fact his younger sister, but also reavealed that their relationship was anything but loving for a while. They received word that she was in the city, and chaos contacted her and got a response. Now, to Artemis' irritation, jr was having her go meet this Shion. That itself wasn't the problem, It was just _who _she was going with.

"Look, I suppose things are a bit awkward in between us, but the silent treatment is weighing me down man." Artemis said to an ever-so-silent chaos as they walked towards the elevator in the space port. chaos ignored her, and she sighed, tugging awkwardly on her knee-length, long sleeved, v-cut ,plain white dress. Artemis noticed chaos give her a side-glance, and cursed herself for coming with him unarmed. Now chaos wasn't the type at all to just attack her, but it never hurt to be safe right? The long elevator ride was bad enough, but upon arriving at the cafe they were to meet her at, the silence was unbearable, Artemis crossed her legs, on them she wore her wedge boots, and just looked down, avoiding chaos' lingering gaze. She began fiddling with her hair, which she wore out and parted it to the right today, when Shion finally arrived.

"Hey chaos, sorry to keep you waiting. Hello, I'm Shion" the brunette greeted, reaching to shake Artemis' hand.

Artemis gladly accepted Shion's hand, shaking it "Hi, I'm Artemis, I'm kinda the newest kukai member and Jr. said I should come and meet you." she said to Shion.

"Oh? You're new? how long did it take for Jr. to irritate you?" Shion asked jokingly.

"The first day" Artemis replied with a small laugh. chaos' throat clearing snapped them out of their deep conversation.

"Oh right....sorry" Shion said, sitting down next to Artemis.

* * *

"The elsa is missing!?" Shion asked in astonishment. Artemis sipped on her iced coffee, which she ordered a while ago.

"Yes unfortunately. They were pulled into some sort of gravitational field, and a powerful sphere appeared around the landmass, prohibiting us their rescue." chaos explained calmly.

"Oh no.....I'm sorry you two." Shion said in regretful tones. "There's nothing I can do, I'm sure you've heard of my quitting Vector?"

Chaos gave a reassuring smile. "Yeah, don't worry too much about, Jr said it wouldn't hurt to ask." Artemis gulped down the rest of her iced coffee and winced as it overly chilled her throat. It would most likely be sore the next morning. "Anyway, it's about time we headed back." Chaos said, giving Artemis a side glance.

"Oh hell no!" Artemis exclaimed, her voice already hoarse. "Tell Jr..... *clears throat loudly*....... That's better, tell Jr. that he'll just have to wait for me to come back tomorrow, we can't be leaving tonight and I miss my house!" she said. Shion gave a slight chuckle at this.

"Fine then." Chaos said simply, excusing himself and leaving. Shion stared at him leave.

"That was cold....especially considerings it's chaos...." she said, looking at Artemis.

"Eh, we just got off to a bumpy start, we'll be buddy-buddy soon enough!" Artemis reassured. After another hour of small talk, Shion finally excused herself and left. It was quite dark out by now. Artemis decided she was hungry and ordered herself some soup. "Ah...that's the stuff" she sighed in content, inhaling the scent of it. She ate slowly at first, but upon noticing that only she and some creepy guy on the other side of the cafe were still there, she sped up a bit, even more when she caught his lingering gaze. After paying for her food and tipping the nice female server, she quickly exited the cafe. It was completely dark out now, except for a few dimly lit street lights. Artemis mentally cursed herself for leaving her weapon back at the Durandal, as she found that she was getting bad vibes form the area. She considered just staying at the hotel a mere block down, but decided to walk home, which, in her stupidity, was on the very outskirts of the city. To make matters worse, as she was walking, she noticed that man from the cafe was tailing her with purpose. He kept his distance for the most part, but as she could tell she was halfway to her house, two others joined him in following her, and soon after she saw another two coming from different directions. They were going to cut her off.

Artemis gulped and REALLY began cursing herself for not arming herself. As she predicted, when she reached a three-way road, two men barred her path. One was skinny and sickly looking, the other was quite muscular. Deciding not to risk trying to brush past them, she stopped. Unarmed fighting never really suited her, but it couldn't be helped. The three men behing her came to a stop a few feet away from her, leaving her surrounded.

"How ya doin'?" she heard a voice behind her say.

"OOO! You picked a nice one this time boss!" the skinny one in front of her said.

"Real good piece'a meat!" The muscular one said. Artemis sent an icy glare his way that had him silent. Maybe she would blast them with a couple ethers as well.

"Hey! 'oney! Lemme talk to ya!" the skinny said, walking up to her. '_A little closer'_Artemis thought. Once he was close enough, he placed his hand on her chin, lifting her downward gaze up to meet his. '_now!_' "Yous a fine piece of p-" he stopped to cry out in pain as Artemis, delivered a rather hard punch to his face, she felt his nose shatter under her fist, but she wasn't done yet, she heard the other men gasp as she swiftly punched him in the gut, before following up with a knee in between his legs. Checkmate, One down she thought. He fell to the ground moaning in pain, clutching the area where she kneed. The muscular man was the first to snap out of his shock, he rushed her, making to punch her in her stomach, but she quickly jumped above his crouched form, briefly flashing him her underwear, which distracting him enough for her to land behind him and extend her left leg, tripping him. He fell to the ground with a thud, and before he could recover, she swiftly jumped up and stomped down on his abdomen, hard. She was sure she felt a couple snaps and something burst when she did that. He howled in pain. Two, she mentally recorded. But she was tackled from behind and hit the ground at an odd angle, injuring her left arm and her right ankle in the process. She didn't need to look up to know that there were two men on top of her, which left their 'boss'. Artemis feared where he may be but she got her answer when she felt her dress being shoved up. Anger and panic welled up in her as she focused on getting them off.

"Ether Drive!" she shouted, her voice echoing, at that moment, her body enveloped in sparks of lightning and the men jumped off her in their own panic.

"Boss! she uses ether!" one man said as Artemis sprang to her feet.

"Who gives a Shit!? take her down!" the middle man said. At that, the man on his right side revealed a bat and ran for Artemis. '_a bat....? Pathetic, just a bunch of low life thugs!'_Artemis thought harshly. He swung that bat at her and she merely, grabbed it and threw it away from them, before grabbing him by his collar and flipping him over her. He snarled and pulled her down to the ground, standing up and looking down at her. Artemis took this as a chance and swung her legs upwards, kicking him several times in between his legs. He made a wheezing sound and fell down next to her, his eyes clouded with pain. She jumped up only to be grabbed and thrown across the ground. Artemis mentally noted the position of the two remaining men. She spun to a stand and shouted again. "Ether Drive!" her voice echoing, instead of just sparks, a full bolt of lightning gathered in her hand, and she shot it towards that last subordinate. He screeched din pain as it connected and electrocuted him, rendering him on the ground. The boss looked down at him and back to Artemis in fear, seeing her ready another ether. "P-P_**-PLEASE NO!!!!**_" he screamed as she called a bolt from the sky to come down and hit him this time. The lightning ran through his brain down to his toes. The boss fell down, being the only one of his group to die that day.

Artemis looked around at the remaining men, who were groaning in pain or slipping in and out of consciousness. She sighed in relief and limped the rest of her way home, clutching at her injured arm. "Stupid thugs...shoulda killed all of you!" she muttered as she walked into her house, collapsing on her bed. She healed her injuries with her nanomachine pod and took her shoes off, changing into some pajama pants and a tank top as she fell into a much-needed sleep.

* * *

This was pretty intense, this chapter and the next were originally one, but It got to be quite long so I spilt them up, expect the next chapter in a few days, my apology for being such a suckish updater :P


	4. Come on Then

**Ok... You all probably depsie everything about me by now, and I am soooo sorry. But one of my 2012 resolutions is have this story completed by the end of the year, along with Ripples to Waves and A path freely chosen too.**

**So finally, and waayyy overdue update. Btw i do not own anything of or about xenosaga...save for my oc.**

* * *

When Artemis woke up the next day, she was quite sore and very annoyed.

"Can't stand thugs." she muttered, before turning and flopping comically out of bed. "...shit..." she groaned. Her ears picked up the sound of several knocks at her door. She turned over and sat up, pounding her hands on the floor as she sighed. "...shit..."

Standing proved to take a lot more work than she'd expected, but when she was up. she was walking over to her front door and sliding it open. She was greeted by the smiling face of Jr. "...double shit..."

"Morning to you too." Jr said in mock offense, he then took her silence as an invitation to continue talking talking. "This is cool place you got here."

Artemis opened her mouth with a sarcastic comment on the tip of her tongue, but stopped short. "Really?" she asked in suprise, he seemed pretty sincere with his comment. Jr nodded.

"It's really serene and calming, you don't see very many houses like this anymore."

"Thanks...it's cosy and and comfortable." Artemis responded, gesturing him to follow her in, which he did. "So what brings you out here?"

"Jin said you're a blacksmith, and to be honest I wanted to see." the boy answered. Artemis nodded.

"Well go ahead and take a look around, i'm going to go and make myself a bit more presentable." she said, turning and walking back into her room. Jr looked after her a moment before turning to look at the house. It was cosy and comfortable indeed, with simple designs and plain furniture, but it did have a certain air to it, Jr couldn't tell exactly what it it was, but it was eerie and unfamiliar, his mind breifely flashed to a certain conversation he once had with Yuriev, but he paid it no mind. He was more interested in the weapons that Artemis crafted. He opened the door to another room and his eyes immediately lit up with glee.

"Whoa!" Jr cheered with a huge grin, rushing forward into the room. There weapons galore in the place. Anything one could think of, Artemis had. Swords, spears, bows, arrows, flails, guns, maces, staves, and rods just to mention a few. There were even some hybrid weapons made with newer technolog. Jr wanted to pick up one of the old style sniper riffles, but wasn't sure if it still worked and if Artemis would use it on him for touching it. Jr walked around the room, looking at all the various weapons, when something caught his eye.

It was a book, a very intricate looking one too, with a several buckles binding it closed, there was some form of insignia on the cover that had Jr unnnereved for whatever reason. It appeared to be a moon, though one half was dark and had patterns spreading from it, the other half appeared to be half of a sinister looking face with a terrifying smile. Jr had seen this somewhere before, but he couldn't tell where of the top of his head, all he knew was that he could sense a powerful force from it, something along the lines of ether, but darker and more concentrated. Why would Artemis have this? As a matter of fact, just what the hell _was_ this?

"Something caught your eye?" aforementioned girl asked from behind Jr, causing him to jump. "Wow.." she continued with a chuckle, "you were really into whatever you got into Mr. Jumpy." she then craned her neck to see what he was looking at. Jr stared as her eyes darkened considerably, yet on her face remained the same pleasent expression.

"What is this?" Jr tried to keep the suspicion out of his voice, but he was pretty sure he failed in that effort.

Artemis regained her composure quick. "Oh, it's just a freakish book I found lying around on one of my trips for materials. I can't get the damn thing open, so I stopped trying." Jr eyed her funny still.

"It's a little creepy."

"Yeah" Artemis agreed. "I'd get rid of it, but who knows what anyone eles would do with it?"

"Right.." Jr responded, he kinda got it.

"So what'd ya think about all the vintage equipment?" Artemis asked, attempting to draw Jr's attention away from the book.

It worked.

Jr's eyes lit up, "Absolutely epic! I've never seen so many old world equipment in such good condition." he walked over to the hyrbrid weapons. "And these are high class military tier weapons! How'd you make them?" Artemis smirked.

"Trade secret."

"Aaaw! C'mon! This is just like a VX-33582 model." Jr said, poiting at a an intricate looking bow. "That can turn into a sword too right?"

"Right." Artemis said, walking up to it. "I have a weakness for these wepons right here, it's a great way to mix several different fighting styles together."

"Yeah" Jr nodded. "I tried one of these once, they're really heavy though."

"It's because like M.W.S.s, they're also made to withstand really heavy blows, I bet the ones that Shion woman uses are a lot heavier than you'd expect them to be."

"Definitely, I can't fight with a weapon like that. But She also knows really adavnced martials arts like her brother, she just doesn't prefer to use a sword with them. It's probably why she handles the weapon so well." Jr responded. He then turned to face her. "So now for the reason I came.."

"So you didn't come for a lecture on ancient weapons and martial arts?" Artemis asked jokingly. Jr, chuckled.

"As much as I'd be interested in that, and I'm serious when i say that, I did come to discuss bussiness."

"Then discuss business we shall." she said. Jr nodded and then walked back into the living room. Artemis lingered a bit to gaze at the book, before turning and following the red head, sincerely hoping than Jr couldn't tell she was lying completely about it.

* * *

"So you're going to infiltrate a high security facility to steal away an android to help you save the elsa crew?" Artemis asked Jr as they walked through the streets of miltia. It was quite a long explanation that Jr had given, and they'd long since abandoned her house in favor of walking through the city.

"Yeah, Kos-mos' tertiary weapon system is most likely powerful enough to penetrate that disturbance, which allows us to go help them. But Kos-mos was scrapped, and we need to get her back."

"So we're going to break about a bunch of different laws in order to do this?" Artemis inquired.

"...Yeah." Jr had been trying to skirt around that small fact. Artemis nodded.

"So we run the risk of being arrested, convicted, and sent to a high security prison." Jr nodded back to her. "Not to mention the risk we run of the security at the place killing us?" Artemis asked blankly. Another nod. So she was now involved with criminals. Criminals that indeed could see her arrested and/or killed. It was probably not a good idea to go along with the plan. There were so many things wrong with the idea, and they likely were walking right into a trap when it came to Vector. That was it, Artemis had made her decision.

"You're asking me to help you guys with something that can get me killed, and I'm probably going to be away from home for a long." She spoke. "It's logically not a good idea and very far fetched and we are really walking on a tight rope in trying to do so." Jr gulped. Artemis stared him a moment and then shrugged. "I'm in." Jr's eyes widened comically.

"What?"

"I. am. In." Artemis repeated with a smirk. Just a bit of payback for that interview.

* * *

_"This is a pretty steep move you've got going here." A boy said. At only 4"9" with youthful features, he did not appear intimadating at all. But people who reallly knew him knew not to let this facade fool them. He ws a dangerous master of ether abilities who showed no mercy. Artemis knew this about him, but did not fear him, as some would argue that she was the same way._

_"I don't care, there's really no point in trying to pretend I still have alliance with them." she responded to him, looking at him. He had shaggy chestnut colored hair, yet his eyes where a darker red than even her own. _

_"So going rogue is a better idea?" he asked her._

_"Not necessarily, but it's the idea that I need to go through with."_

_"You're making a lot of dangerous people your enemy in doing this, myself included."_

_"Give it a couple hundred years, I'll have enough strength to kill all of them." Artemis responded._

_"...me too?" the boy asked, slightly hesitant. Artemis could smile at his voice. A top grade assassin who'd seen more bloodshed than several military forces combined was worried about having to face a friend in a fight._

_"No" she was seriouys when she had said it._

_"No?"_

_"Not at all." she assured._

_"Why?"_

_"Give it a couple hundred years..." Artemis said, turning to walk towards her house. "..you'll be rogue just like me."_

* * *

The E.S. Fenris tore through the dark depths of space. It was a powerful E.S. indeed, who's anima vessel was especially picky. Not many could pilot it, adn those who could were bound to it completely. Such was the way of all the vessels. But Fenrir was especially belligerent when it came to this. As such a strong anima, piloting another E.S. other than it held steep reprecussions. The brunette boy piloting it kept this in mind. He remembered that moment like it had happened just yesterday though it was actually over 200 years ago. He was just as youthful looking as he was back then though, and he had no doubt in his mind that she was too. Who'd have thought that Artemis would have been so right in her assumptions? He thought as he manuavered Fenrir away from his assailants.

There were five of them, simple scouting mechanisms. They were not piloted, likely a wise choice. They stood very little chance against him. He allowed them to get a bit closer before focusing his ether through Fenrir's advanced ether drive. The E.S. teleported from in front of the scout mechs, appearing behind them. A plasma blade extended from the E.S's right arm, and then cut through one of the scout mechs easily. The other four, now detecting the prescense behind them, turned around an dmanuavered their way to surround the lunar E.S. At once, they began heavy fire with their high grade gatling guns. The boy smirked.

"Nice try." he said as he operated the controls. A glowing shield enveloped Fenrir, the shots merely bouncing off of it. They stopped firing after two minutes to cool down, giving the boy the opening he needed. That was what was wrong with unpiloted mechs, all the intellegience in the universe, but no common sense. Fenrir dashed swiftly forward and grabbed one, crushing it with a gravitational function. The boy smirked, that was the good thing about having Fenrir. It was considerably stronger than most E.S.s as it drew power from the pilots ether abilities, and the boy was one of the strongest ether users there was.

Fenrir then turned and generated a fireball in it's right hand, before throwing it and destroying another scout mech. Two to go. The other mechs recovered at this time. The boy watched in curiosity as then circled around each other before combining into a larger and improved mech. This one resembled a simple A.G.W.S unit, but was big enough to compare to an E.S. They must have computed and realized their chances were slim. The new mech extended a large gun.

"Come on then." the boy said. The mech, as if understanding him, began shooting at Fenrir. The sensores on the E.S. conlcuded that these bullets were too strong to be stopped with the Astral Shield without Artemis' ether supplementing the E.S. So he manuuavered Fenrir upwards, dodging the bullets. The mech didn't stop though, instead it shot a missile at Fenrir. The boy cursed, focusing a different power of his. The missile slowed as it got towards the E.S. before stopping a good distance away from it and exploding. "Phew..." the boy sighed, altering the flow of time took a lot out of him.

Yet still, the mech was not finished. It then charged for Fenrir, readying another missile.

"Shit." here was a bad thing about these, they wouldn't hesitate to detroy themselves if it meant taking him out with them. If it got closer and shot the missile, he wouldn't be able to stop it even with Fenrir's ether amping properties. He had to destroy it before it got a chance. Fenrir held it's hand out and shot a level three Ice bolt at the mech. It connected and the mech stopped, frozen in place. "Now for the _coup de grace." _the boy said. Fenrir then shot upwards and held it's hand out, an intricate looking sword materializing in it.

"Not my weapon but.." he trailed off. Fenrir took the sword in both hands and then dashed downward, cutting through the mech. The boy looked in satisfaction as it exploded. Fenrir then turned and faced in a far off direction.

"Now is the time." the sword disappeared and the E.S. resumed it's course. "I hope you're ready."

* * *

Artemis looked at the facility, standing beside Momo and Ziggy. She was really going through with this.

"Are you sure about this?" Jin asked her.

"Of course." Artemis laughed in response. "This is a rush, it's a been a while since I've been on an adventure."

Jin looked at her a moment, before giving a small smile and nodding.

"I must admit," Ziggy began "I'm interested in seeing you use that weapon you keep hidden from us." he said, gesturing to the case Artemis now had across her hips. Artemis laughed delightedly in response.

"It's been a while since I've used this one...I'm excited myself." she then looked towards the facility again. "So let's see if I got this right.." she started, looking at everyone there. "Miyuki has disabled the blocks they place on the trasnports so we can get to this Kos-mos." Shion nodded in return. "And I'm here to disable any security systems that may try and kill us while we're doing this." she looked at Jr, receiving another nod. "Ok! I'm ready."

"Good." Jr said, looking up towards Shion. "So should we go on now?"

"Yeah" the brunette responded. "We shoulcn't waste any time." And with that, they were off.

The facility was dark, as Artemis expceted it to be, she walked in between Shion and Jin at the front, with Miyuki, Allen and Momo in the middle, and Chaos, Jr and Ziggy bringing up the rear. Miyuki was bubbly and hyper, Artemis liked her. Allen was soft spoken but very sensible, she liked him too. They came upon a checkpoint with special sensors and guns aimed for anything stupid enough to cross.

"I'm up." Artemis spoke. Everyone else halted their pace to watch her. Artemis looked back at them. "No pressure or anything, right?" she asked. They stared still. _'The hell?' _she thought, turning back to look at the sensors. They were connected to the guns and were mounted on the walls. She'd have to climb. Artemis looked down at herself. She was wearing a black miniskirt with black stockings underneath. She also had on black boots that were comfortable enough and flexible enough to allow her to fight. She also had on a red tank top over which she had on a zipped up black vest that was light but still bullet proof. Also she had on her reinforced fingerless black gloves on too.

She had to look good for the people she was going to end up killing or knocking unconscious, so their last sight would be pleasent.

Artemis looked back at the security system, before nodding to herself and then running for the wall to her right. Her momentum and speed gave her the traction to run up the wall and then grab onto a railing hanging from the high up ceiling. She turned herself around to look at her path, three more railings and she'd be at a position at which she could disable the security system without having it kill her. With a deep breath, she swung herself back and forth before swinging forward and just gripping the next railing. She heard a gasp from below, and she didn't need to look down in order to know it was a long drop if she failed.

"Don't worry." she said aloud, more to herself than the others down below. She then took another deep breath and repeated her earlier action, making it safely. "One more to go Artemis..." she said to herself. It was farther away than the other two were, but she'd done worse than this. She swung herself towards it and extended her hands. Her eyes widened and her heart began beating fast as she realized she wasn't going to make it. In desperation she streched out further, putting her whole body into the motion. If she fell like this, she wouldn't recover in time to catch herself. Luckily enough, her right hand barely gripped the railing. Artemis gulped and then righted herself, putting her left hand with her right.

"You okay?" Jr's voice rang from below. Artemis sighed.

"Yeah." she cursed her voice for shaking, guess she was more out of practice than she first expected. She pulled herself up more and then looked at the sensor in front of her. She could tell that disabling this one would allow them to pass without conflict. "Ok, here we go." she pulled a device from inside her vest. It was an electrical tracer, it would allow her to pinpoint every electrical current running through the sensor. She held it out to the machine and smirked as it computed perfectly, before putting it away. Next, she held her hand out again, focusing a small amount of ether enrgy and disrupting the current. The device crackled a moment before shutting down.

"Got it?" Shion's voice came.

"Yeah!" Artemis responded. "You're good to go...um...can somebody catch me?" she asked, not tusting herself to land on her feet until she got back up to speed with her reflexes.

"I have you, you can let go." Ziggy's voice came from below.

"Right." and with that, she let go, falling down into the cyborg's arms. She looked at him "Thanks."

"Don't mention it." he responded, letting her down. She heard footsteps from behind and was shocked to find herself embraced from behind.

"That was sooooo cool!" Miyuki said from behind her. "My new friend is badass!" Artemis chuckled.

"Thanks Miyuki." she said.

"That was pretty badass though." Jr said, walking around to look at Artemis.

"I'm impressed." Jin chimed in.

"Me too." came Shion. "...just let us know next time if you aren't sure you can make it so one of us can spot you, that was a close call up there."

"You're right." Artemis responded as Miyuki let her go. "I'll make sure of it next time."

Going through the facility was proving to be easier than it probably should have, except for the small snag they ran into when one of the transport's was still blocked, forcing them to go the long way. It was here where things began to get interesting.

"They're in our way.." Jin murmured, referring to the the three soldiers that blocked the gate they needed to go through. "We can't avoid them like the last ones..."

Shion nodded. "We have to fight them, I'd like to avoid killing them, but if it comes down to it..."

"Then we won't have a choice." Artemis finished, reaching for her case and unlocking it.

"Alright," Jin started, standing up and gripping his sword. "Me, Shion and Artemis will take point, Miyuki and Momo will stand by for back up, while Jr, chaos and Ziggy will watch our rear incase any comotion draws more attackers." Everyone quietly voice their agreements. JIn waited until they were most vulnerable. "Now!" he whispered.

They moved from their hiding spot and went into action. JIn dashed forward and got the first hit in, knocking his still sheathed sword against the head of one of the guards, knocking him out effectively. The other two noticed and sprung into action, both unloading clip after clip at Jin. But Shion was faster, in a moment's notice, she was blocking the shots with her M.W.S, the bullets boucing off harmlessly. Artemis rushed forward then, sliding and kicking one of the guards legs from beneath him, sending him to the ground. This caught the other's attention and he turned to aim at Artemis, but was stopped from taking action as he was struck heavily from behind. He fell to the ground and Shion smirked from over him. Artemis nodded at her before jumping up delivering a swift kick to the back of the last one's head.

It was over, luckily without any death.

"Good job you guys!" Jr cheered with a smile, walking forward. He looked at Artemis then. "Pretty cool moves there."

"Have you taken martial arts?" Jin asked curiously. Artemis shrugged and smiled.

"I dabbled."

As they continued on their path, there was in fact a few more encounters, but none that they couldn't handle, after knocking the soldiers unconscious, they would hide them where ever they could. Artemis had yet to use her weapon in battle yet though. They came to a new checkpoint with another security sytem. This one had a walkway connected to the ceilings of the corridor. There were two soldiers in place of there. Artemis looked up at them.

"Think you can handle them?" Miyuki asked from her right. Artemis stared up at them, their postures were slouched and their stances lax.

"Yeah." she said simply.

"Um..." Allen chimed in from her left. She taken to walking in the middle with the two so Momo could aid in combating the mechs they fought with her ether. Artemis didn't bother to mention that her own ether ability was far more advanced than possible for the realian, but that wasn't something she particularly wanted them to know, plus she hadn't used it to it's fullest extent in such a long time. "..You sure you're gonna be okay? There are doors up there that lead to other parts of the facility, if you make a lot of noise, that walkway will be swarmed with guards."

Artemis considered this a moment, There was little chance she could knock them out without alerting more guards. She could definitely handle them while she was armed, but that would most likely end up with more than a few dead.

"I can do it."

"Ok then," Jr chimed in from behind her. "None of us can climb up there like you can except for Kos-mos, and since she's not here, you're gonna be on your own." Artemis turned to look at him.

"Ok, wish me luck." and with that, she got a running start and ran up the wall to a point, before jumping back and gripping the railing of the walkway, swinging herself over and kicking one of the guards off the walkway, landing perfectly herself. She winced as she heard a thud from below and Jr's whispered "watch it!". She then looked at the remaining guard who...

Didn't appear disturbed at all. '_How the hell does Vector select their employess?' _Artemis pondered as she merely walked up behind him and gripped his pressure point, rendering him out cold. She then looked towards the sensor, which wasn't that far from her. She smiled and began walking for it.

But of course things could never be that easy for her.

The doors on either side of the walkway slid open, three soldiers running out from each and aiming their weapons at her. She heard several gasps from below and she sighed.

"oh..." she groaned. "..shit..." she whined.

One guard opened fire. Artemis regained her composure quickly and dodged, jumping on the railing and dashing across it to kick the guard across the face, sending him plummeting off the walkway with the other. Not missing a beat, she slid between one's open legs and grabbed the neck of the one behind him, before swinging him over her shoulder and sending them both off the walkway. That just left the three on the other side. She turned and yelped as she ducked when they all opened fire at her. Luckily, they had terrible aim. She looked at her case next to her.

There was no other choice.

"Gotta do whatcha gotta do..." she muttered, opening the case fully and aiming her intricate rifleat the soldiers. It was her trump weapon with a lot of suprises in it. She fired off two shots that had two of the soldiers gripping their arms in pain as they dropped their weapons. Artemis dashed towards them, jumping over them. As she was hovering over them, she aimed downwards and fired off some more shots. Two of the guards ended up of the ground. Dead. She landed behind the last and swept his feet from under him, afterwards grabbing his leg and throwing him off the side of the walkway.

"Phew..." she sighed, looking at the two dead ones. "Sorry..." she said as she walked over and deactivated the sensor. That was wild, but she knew she could do it. As she went to walk over to a safe point to climd down, the doors opened again. Artemis groaned as she now had seven guards to deal with. Three to her left, four to her right.

"This sucks..." she whined as they aimed at her. She jumped upwards as they fired. She fired shots to her left, taking two out. The last one gasped as she ran for him when she could. She fired at him as the other four fired at her. She got one in his leg as she jumped over him and behind him, shoving him forward to the other four. He struggled to regain his balance. Artemis looked at them for a moment as they paused in their fire to reload their clips. There was a sharp pain from her right arm, and she looked to see a wound from a bullet. They shot her. They were going to regret that.

Something changed then as her eyes darkened dangerously. She let out a chuckle. as she glared back up at them. She pointed rifle at them, pressin ga button on the side. The weapon shifted and clinked as it changed form. Her left hand joined her right as she now held a long, inticate looking sword in her hands, the silver color stood out in the dark facility, gleaming in the dim light. A shame she had to stain this sword with blood. She held it in front of her in a diagonal position, scowling over it at the guards.

"Come on then."

* * *

**Yes indeed! Another chapter, this one with a lotta action! Once again I'm so sorry for my disgrafceful updating, and I promise you won't have to wait long for the next chapter to see how Artemis deals with those guards. But don't hold your breath with that other oc...sorry but that was just a small intriduction to the subplot, you won't see him again for quite a few chapters, but you'll find out his name then.**

**Btw: I went back and forth trying to decide what fighting style she would have, and I finally settled on one, which I also modeled her look after clothing wise. I wanted to be more creative, but I thought it just fir so well with Artemis's character to have such a badass fighting style like another female protagonist i know...**


	5. Auldra Calf

**Update Time! **

**I ONLY OWN MY OCS**

* * *

The guards didn't seem to know what to do when she said that. Jr couldn't blame them. He himself was a little shaken at how her voice chaned so drastically, he didn't even want to see how she was looking at them. He'd watched with Shion on his left and Chaos on his right.

"She's really good." Shion commented.

"I was wrong to say she didn't have any fighting experience, she probably has just as much if not more than us with those skills." Chaos stated.

"Yeah." Jr agreed, that was a hybrid gunblade, and she handled it well, he knew for a fact that they were hefty weapons and she needed to have quite a bit of upper body strength to use it that flawlessly. She'd resorted to killing some of them, which was understandable, as she was beyond outnumbered. He was sure now that she'd win, but he still wished they could help.

"Whoa!" Miyuki commented. "She really IS badass!"

"I'm beyond impressed now..." Jin stated.

"Let's hope she continues on and wins." Ziggy said.

"I wish my Medica could reach her..." Momo said in a worried tone.

"I think she can manage..." Allen responded.

"Shhh." Jr said aloud. Everyone stared up at the walkway. It appeared the standoff was done.

Artemis lunged forward, elbowing the injured guard off the side of the walkway. She was under fire now, but she was already in there. Dipping under one, she swung and felt her sword cut through flesh. A guard shouted out in pain. She brought her sword back and swung again, catching another guard across the chest. But she wasn't done as she flipped over the shoulders of another, switching back to the gun form and shooting down a different guard. There were three now, two were injured.

Back to the sword form, she grabbed the shoulder she'd slipped over and dislocated it easily. The guard cried out, but was silenced as she cut through his abdomen. Throwing him down and dodging more gunshots, she jumped on one of the remaining two and slit his throat. Finally, she witched it back to gun form and put two shots through the remaining guards helmet. He sumped to the ground as she stood up and righted herself. Swallowing heavily, she placed her weapon back in it's case around her hips.

"Damn..." it was then that the weight of the situation hit her. She'd just killed quite a few of the guards. A pang ran through her heart. She had promised herself not to do that anymore. But she couldn't focus on that, they had a job to complete. She walked over and disabled the sensor this time without fail. She then turned and looked down. Ziggy was already in place, so she jumped, landing in his arms.

"Are you alright?" he asked as she winced. Artemis looked at her right arm and saw two more wounds added to the one that was already there, there was also one on her left side from what she could feel, but it wasn't that bad, thanks to her vest.

"Artemis!" Momo shouted, running up to her. "Let me help you." she said.

"Hehehe..." Artemis chuckled "Thanks Momo" she said as she felt a cool feeling wash over her. She could feel her pain subsiding a bit as Momo's medica soothed her.

"That.." Jr started walking up to her "..was absolutely bad-_ass_!" he said happily.

"That was pretty amazing." Shion spoke, walking up next to him. "I knew you must have some skill, but I'm officially blown away by it."

"There's no more need to try keep you out of harder battles." Jin stated calmly, but Artemis could hear the pride in his voice. "You're on par with all of us."

"You are totally my new best friend!" Miyuki stated, working on Artemis' side while Momo worked on her arm. Artemis was beginning to blush from all the praise, but out of the corner of her eye, she could see chaos eyeing her oddly. Well shit, if he wasn't watching her carefully before, he definitely was now.

"Once you're ready, we'll go lower in the facility, we're getting closer." Jin said.

"Right" Artemis responded.

Now it was Shion, Jin and Jr taking point while Artemis guarded the rear with Ziggy and Chaos. They were apparently getting closer to the place where Kos-mos was scrapped, and Artemis was happy for that, she didn't like this place one bit. That dislike was kicked up to eleven when they saw Omega.

Artemis stared at the machine while everyone commented on it. She tilted her head to the side. This thing had apparently kicked the crap out of Kos-mos. Artemis couldn't help but feel it shouldn't be there. She didn't know why she felt the need to destroy it, she'd only ever heard stories of it.

"Why recreate something like this?" she asked aloud, catching the attention of her allies.

"Not sure.." Allen responded "It makes me kind of uneasy when I think about what they may possibly use it for."

"Well I don't like it," Jr cut in "This machine brings destruction and frankly, anyone who's tried to use it has done something completely stupid with it."

"I agree." Shion stated "But there isn't much we can do about it, let's move on."

Artemis walked alongside Ziggy on the way out. It was fine, there was no reason to worry about that monstosity.

So then why did she instantly regret leaving it in one piece?

Artemis stared at the blue A.G.W.S. unit. Now she didn't want to fight it particularly, but it was right in their way. Chaos stood to her left Ziggy to her right. There was another security system in this large room, the others had been trapped in a magnetic field when they walked in, Artemis, chaos and Zoggy were able to escape that fate. She could deactivate it, but the panel to do so was blocked. So they needed to destroy what was in their way.

"Ziggy, I'll support you with ether, Artemis, cover Ziggy as he goes up to fight it." chaos said. Ziggy and Artemis voiced their agreement.

Ziggy lunged and body slammed the machine's left leg, taking it down. Artemis fired several shots at it while chaos used several first level ice bolts against it. The mech jumped up and bashed Ziggy away, sending him flying towards chaos. They both hit the ground with grunts. Artemis looked back at the mech, running towards it and jumping upwards. She'd worked on tons of these before, she knew where to strike. She shifted her weapon to sword form and plunged it in the thing's neck area. It spun around and hit the ground, disoriented as Artemis had severed it's visual wires. The pilot could no longer see them. She pulled her sword from it and jumped back, sheathing her weapon and running past the mech as chaos and Ziggy resumed their attacks on it.

"Here you are." Artemis said as she got to the panel and elbowed it. The magnetic field powered down, allowing hte others to join the fray, soon enough, the mech was destroyed.

"Good work everyone." Shion panted, putting her weapon away.

* * *

They were out of harms way for the most part now and getting very close to where Kos-mos was. It was darker down here in the deepest sublevels. Artemis was engaged in conversation with Allen. Or rather, she was listening to him vent about Shion.

"-and I know I sound pathetic, but I really feel for her and she doesn't notice at all. I-I mean not that there's anything wrong with it," he said "she has a lot on her plate to deal with and she always tries to deal with it alone, and I kinda think that they may be getting to her, becuase despite how amzing...absolutely amazing..." damn he had it bad. "...she is, she's no superhero and I think some of these things like Kos-mos getting scrapped really get to her on an emotional level, because she put everything into developing Kos-mos, and of course she would.." did he breathe at all? "why wouldn't she, it was her and Kevin's project, you know...their baby in a way...and oh god I can't believe I just sad that! Don't tell her I said that, as a matter of fact, don't tell her a I said any of this...I sound like a stalker and I suppose i kinda am in a way but...oh I'm sorry I'm rambling."

Artemis let out a laugh. "You've been rambling for a whole ten minutes Allen, if I had a problem with it, I'd have told you to shut up a long time ago, but I like listening to your rambles, they're entertaining and it's funny to watch someone not breathe for so long."

"hehehe.." Allen laughed awkardly, scratching his head, before getsuring to the others, that were ahed of them "we should catch up...thanks for listening."

"No problem, you're so awkard." Artemis laughed. "But I find awkard people adorable so.." Allen flushed at this and attempted to stammer out a reply. Artemis had to resist the ugre to hug him, she really did find awkard adorable.

After a while of more walking, they came to a place that seemed as good a place as any for scrapping something, there were scraps of this and that everywhere. Artemis had to giggle when Allen apparently lost the connection between eyes ans feet and fell. Their attention however, was drawn to something on the ground.

"Kos-mos..." Shion sounded near tears as she walked over to the android that lay out on the ground. Everyone went silent then. Kos-mos must have grown on all of them, Artemis figured.

"How could they do this to her?" Allen asked in outrage.

"I don't know...but it's not a good idea to stay long, we should get going soon." Jin spoke. Shion regained her composure then.

"Right..."

"Do you wanna start her up now, chief?" Allen asked her, holding up the device to do just that.

"Yes...please..." Shion spoke softly. Allen nodded and began the start up process. Artemis looked at the android as it whirred to life and it's eyes opened. Something was odd about this one, but she couldn't put her finger on it. The andriod stood and looked at everyone, registering them. Her eyes barely skimmed over Artemis before settling on Shion.

"Good morning, Kos-mos.." Shion said with a soft smile. '_Morning? It's like 11 at night...' _Artemis thought but did not voice.

"And good morning to you..." Kos-mos responded "Shion." Artemis looked on as Shion checked Kos-mos over and hugged her, feeling like she was invading a tender moment. Once Kos-mos had been established good to go, they went. However, they didn't make it far before Artemis felt a strong pressure ring through the air. She stopped walking as Shion put her hand up to her head and collapsed.

"Shion!" everyone cried. Artemis just looked on as they attempted to tend to her.

'_What the hell was that?'_

* * *

Across the universe from them, was a small world. It was a dark and almost uninhabitable place, the whole surface of the place was a dark and barren land. There wasn't much there, save for a grand looking facility that stood out against the dark land.

"They failed to apprehend the boy." An old man said in a command cenetr within the facility. His hair was white, his skin wrinkled, but he held an air of power about him that no one would willingly go against.

"Of course they did." A youg man walked up beside the old one. The man was handsome and youthful looking. His face was expressionless, and his red eyes cold. His skin was tan and healthy looking, his black hair short and somewhat spiked. He wore a dark cloak and held a dangerous air about him. "You sent them after one of your top lieutenants, naturally they'd lose."

"I suppose you're right..." the old man said. "The only thing left to do is to send you after him before he reaches Artemis."

"And how do you know I can best the guy in battle should it come to it?"

"I don't." The old man said. "I just know you're the best suited against his fighting style, however do not try and fight Artemis, her dimensional skills are far more advanced than the boy's, you won't stand a chance one on one."

"Whatever."

"Haha.." the old man chuckled. "Just can't accept that she's your superior in a fight, can you?"

* * *

Artemis looked over at Shion as she came to.

"What happened?" the brunette asked.

"You passed out." Jr responded in a concerned tone.

"Are you okay chief?" Allen asked her. Shion stared at them a moment before answering.

"Y-yeah...I think I'm fine." she said as Kos-mos helped her up.

"Are you sure?" Momo asked.

"Yeah, I must jsut be really tired." was the response.

"..Try not to push yourself, Shion." Jin said softly, Shion looked at him and nodded.

"We should get out of here.." she said. Everyone agreed with her, and then they were on the elevator up.

Artemis looked at the area they'd arrived at. This was the demonstration room. She walked forward as Shion and Kos-mos took the lead, Momo and Ziggy right behind. Artemis walked alonside Jr, and Ji, with Chaos, Allen and Miyuki at the back.

A minute into their walk, Artemis began feeling this nudging in her head. A prescense...coming closer and closer. She gasped.

"Shion! Kos-mos! Back up!" the two turned to looked at her, before quickly following her order. Just in time too, as a large creature burst from the floor then. "Oh that's ugly..." it wasn't a gnosis to her knowledge, so it wouldn't take too much to beat it.

"C'mon Kos-mos, Artemis!" Shion shouted, materializing her M.W.S. and charging forward, bashing the thing with it. It threw it off balance and it fell back. Kos-mos jumped up and fired at the thing as well. Artemis ran forward and fired several shots at the monster. It screeched and jumped up, swinging it's arms and knocking all three of them back. Artemis grunted as she could feel blood running from a wound on her side. Why always there?

Momomran to help her and Shion, while Jr, Ziggy and Chaos rushed forward to take their own hits the the beast. Kos-mos recovered fast and materailzed a freakishly large machine gun and unload sevral rounds into the beast. Momo jumped up after aiding Shion and Artemis to throw several level one beam bolts at the monster. It screeched in agony, not liking that very much. Shion caught on and threw some beam bolts of her own. Chaos and Ziggy both attacked the thing at the same time while Jr and ARtemis supported them with gunfire. The beast swung around over and over again attempting to esacpe the relentless assault of attacks.

Artemis was getting annoyed, it refused to die apprently, so she needed to help it. Holding her left hand out and shifting from gun to sword with her right she focused until she called upon a skill she'd long since stopped using. The gravity beneath the monster distorted, and it rose up in the air a bit. Artemis focused her skills and her sword began glowing with a purple light. With a shout, she dashed forward and cut through the beast, sending it upwards and crashing back to the ground.

"Whoa!" Jr. shouted, not letting up on his gunfire. A few more hits and the thing exploded.

"That was an impressive technique." Jin said to Artemis.

"Yeah, you're just full of suprises." Shion said happily, panting from her extreme ether usage. Artemis wanted to respond, but her eyes widened as she looked back. Everyone followed her gaze and gasped. Several A.G.W.S units were coming right for them.

"That is not good." Artemis said simply. They all made eye contact for a second.

And then they were all running as fast as they could to get away.

* * *

**Hehehe, i was really excited about updating, so I decided to push myself and do two updates in one night. So here we got another taste of the subplot and introduced some new characters, I hope ya'll like it, and look for the next update...um...soon hopefully :)**


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